"You are benching me?" Ruby guessed as she shut Alex's office door the next day.
"You think you should be benched?" Alex asked.
"No, I think I should be out there using my training. And I think if you hadn't babysat me when I was twelve you would let me go out there."
"You were right yesterday when you said that I am not being objective with you." Alex said.
"I was?" Ruby asked surprised before taking the front foot. "Well of course I was right." But as she saw Alex's expression she decided to keep the rest of her comments to herself.
"You will be in squad two." Alex said.
"I will?"
"Yes. But you follow every order to the letter."
"Absolutely."
"I mean it, there will be no more second chances after this." Alex warned. "If you are told to withdraw, you withdraw. When you are out there you follow orders. You only think for yourself if you are ordered to."
"I promise." Ruby said.
"In that case report to the desert facility for further training with the suits."
"Thank you." Ruby smiled. Noticing Alex was looking distracted she asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Other than the impending invasion?" Alex asked.
"Yes. Other than that."
"It's fine."
"I've known you for over twenty years and that look is not the look you have when everything is fine." Ruby pointed out.
"Do you remember when your mom was Reign, she asked Lena to move you somewhere safe?" Alex asked.
"And you came and saved me." Ruby recalled.
"How did you feel being sent away?" Alex asked.
"Scared and angry." Ruby said after a moment before guessing. "You are thinking about sending Kara and MJ away?"
"If crossed my mind." Alex confessed.
"I get why you'd want to. But if I were Kara and MJ I'd be mad as hell with you."
-00-
"Mom? What are you doing here?" The teenage Alex asked when she saw her mother and Chewie near the school gates.
"I thought we could walk home together." Kara said.
"Where's Alura?"
"She's back at the apartment." Kara explained before looking at her niece and nephew and asking. "Do you mind going on without us?"
"Sure. See you later." MJ said as he followed his sister down the street.
"Has something happened?" Alex asked suspiciously.
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
"I know these last few weeks have been difficult for you." Kara said. "And I wish I could say things will get better now, but things are going to be tough for awhile. So it makes sense to make best use of our time."
"Don't you want to see your mom?"
"Yes and she wants to see you. But we can do that over dinner tonight. For now we can spend some time together. And seeing you are way ahead with your school work there is no need to rush back."
"So we can do anything?" Alex asked.
"With in reason." Kara replied. "And with Chewie's bark of approval. But if you can't think of anything, there is somewhere I want to take you."
"Is it a fun fair?"
"No." Kara smiled. "So shall we?"
"Sure." Alex agreed as she fell into step along side her mother. "So where are we going?"
"Do you remember when we were living on Shunjitsu?" Kara asked. When her daughter nodded she went on. "You had a tendency of sneaking out to go to the park?"
"And you'd get really mad with me." Alex recalled.
"And if you ever sneak off like that here I will be beyond mad." Kara clarified. "But on Shunjitsu I always found you by the fountain."
"I liked it." Alex said.
"I know you did." Kara said. "So did I. And the reason I liked it was because it reminded me of National City."
"Why?" Alex asked not seeing the connection.
"Because there is a fountain similar to it here."
"There is? I've not seen it."
"That is because the Botanical Garden is probably not high on your cousins' best sites list." Kara pointed out.
-00-
"No." The teenage Kara said loudly as her aunt and cousin walked through the front. "We aren't leaving you." She went on.
"What's going on?" The adult Kara asked, entering the lounge with her daughter, where Alex, MJ and Kara were clearly fighting.
"All I want is for you to be safe." The adult Alex argued, ignoring her sister.
"Except you. You don't car if you are safe." MJ chipped in.
"No, I want everyone safe." Alex repeated, trying to keep her voice calm and level.
"If it is safe for you, it is safe for us." The teenage Kara argued, making no effort to control the tone of her voice.
"Everyone, slow down." The adult Kara said. "What exactly is going on?"
"Mom wants to send us away." The teenage Kara said.
"I didn't say that." Alex said still trying to remain calm and patient. "I said the city wasn't going to be safe and we need to consider our options." She then looked at her sister, hoping for backup and said. "You know how dangerous it is going to get."
"What are you thinking?" Her sister asked.
"That the kids would be safer with mom in Midvale."
"Midvale will also be completely undefended so if they go for that we are screwed." The teenage Kara argued.
"She has a point." Kara agreed.
"Argo would be safe." Alex said.
"You want to send us to a different planet?" The teenage Kara asked eyes wide as the teenage Alex saw the implication for her and looked at her mother.
"You promised you wouldn't send me away again." Kara's daughter said, clearly upset. She then started speaking to her mother in an alien language. Soon after the teenage Kara and MJ also joined in, leaving the adult Alex completely perplexed by what was going on.
"Everyone stop." Kara called in English after a minute. When she was met by silence she said. "No one wants to send anyone anywhere. But we want you to be safe." Seeing all three teenagers open their mouths she said firmly. "Let me finish." When the teenagers remained silent she added. "Argo would be the safest option, but there is another option."
"What?" MJ asked suspiciously.
"Lena's underground lab. It should be safe and I will ask my mother to be there as well so she can protect you should anything happen. But you have to keep your phones on you, with tracking on, at all times. The second one of us contacts you, you drop everything and go to Lena's lab. Once there you do everything you are told and you do not leave under any circumstance."
"Fine." All three teenagers said still not happy, but accepting it was probably the best outcome. Without saying anything else the trio left the room.
"Were you going to share your plan with me?" Kara asked Alex when it was just them.
"I didn't have a plan. We started talking and one thing led to another and both kids jumped to conclusions and then we started fighting." Alex recalled. "And then you came in and well you saw how it went." She paused and added. "I really hope Mongul doesn't have kids because apparently I have no way to overcome teenagers." She then looked over to her sister and commented. "I don't think I have ever seen that side of you."
"What side?"
"The authoritative and controlling. I mean when you were playing go between between mom and me you were much more passive. But there you took complete control and they listened to you."
"When I was out there by myself I had to learn to be more authoritative. Showing weakness ended up with you being conned or just walked all over."
"How many times did that happen to you?"
"A few. Apparently I am too trusting, especially with Alex. I learned quickly though." Kara said.
"Wait, Alex was the one who caused you issues?"
"Yes." Kara confirmed.
"That's hard to picture." Her sister commented before asking. "When did everyone start speaking alien languages?"
"No idea, but I assume they had Alex teach them, like you had me teach you Kryptonian."
"But why not teach them Kryptonian?" Alex asked.
"At a guess, because you can speak it." Kara said. "I think they wanted a language you couldn't speak."
"Well that's going to change. Starting tomorrow, you can teach me."
"That's one option, but instead we could try and focus on Mongul first?" Kara suggested.